Seeds set for 2004 Hereford House Mid-Con Men’s Basketball Tourney--Mid-Con Press Release In one of the tightest races in league history, four teams finished within a game of first place in the Mid-Con standings. Valparaiso needed a win in the regular-season finale against Chicago State to win the title outright, and the Crusaders picked up a 74-66 victory to nab their ninth Mid-Con regular season crown in ten years. Three teams - Centenary, IUPUI and Oral Roberts - tied for second place in the final league standings.
IUPUI DOES JUST ENOUGH TO LEAVE FT. WAYNE WITH REGULAR SEASON FINALE WIN--IUPUI Website IUPUI senior Odell Bradley turned in his third straight double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds as the Jaguars hung on for a 68-65 win over IPFW. Bradley scored 20 of IUPUI's 34 second half points including four free throws in the final 15 seconds to help secure the win.
ORU To Again Open Mid-Con Tourney Against Host UMKC--ORU Website The game will mark the second consecutive season No. 4 ORU (17-10, 10-6) has played No. 5 UMKC (14-13, 9-7) at Kemper Arena in the first round. Last year, Michael Watson scored a game-high 34 points and the Kangaroos held off a late Golden Eagle rally to win 76-73.
VU clinches league title--NW Indiana Post Tribune Tuesday, Valparaiso won its ninth Mid-Continent regular season title in 10 years with a 74-66 victory over CSU. No. 1 seed Valpo plays Oakland at noon Sunday in the first round of the Mid-Continent Tournament in Kansas City.
Valparaiso beat Chicago State 74-66 Tuesday night to clinch the regular-season Mid-Continent Conference basketball title. The win also finalized the bracket of the conference tournament.
Oral Roberts University, which tied for second place, received the fourth seed and will play fifth-seeded Missouri-Kansas City in the first round of the tournament for the second straight year.
UMKC (14-13) eliminated ORU 76-73 in last year's tourney and has beaten the Eagles two other times in the past 13 months. The teams square off at 2:30 p.m. Sunday as the tourney unfolds at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.
"They have a good team, they have a great player in Michael Watson and they're coming off, in my opinion, a great win on the road," said ORU coach Scott Sutton.
UMKC won in overtime at Indiana-Purdue on Saturday to deny the Jaguars a share of the regular-season title.
Watson scored 34 points
in UMKC's tournament win over ORU last year and scored 54 and 27 in two other wins over the Eagles. He ranks eighth nationally in scoring this season at 23.0 points per game.
The teams split their Mid-Con games this season. ORU shot a season-best 66 percent to win at Kansas City and UMKC won 77-71 in Tulsa.
"I think it'll be a battle, but I think every game up there is going to be a battle," Sutton said.
ORU (17-10) has won four of its last five games.
In Sunday's other first-round games, top-seeded Valpo will play eighth-seeded Oakland (Mich.) at noon, second-seeded IUPUI will play seventh-seeded Southern Utah at 6 p.m. and third-seeded Centenary will play sixth-seeded Chicago State at 8:30.
The ORU-UMKC winner will advance to play Valpo or Chicago State in Monday's semifinals at 6 p.m. The championship game will be played at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
